Drug addict jailed over 'terrifying' robbery

A Noosa woman has described being held in a pharmacy storeroom by a drunk drug addict threatening to shoot her as “terrifying”.

The man, who robbed the Tewantin Pharmacy where she worked while pretending to have a gun and holding her against her will, was sentenced to three years jail yesterday.

Shane Christian Graham, 34, pleaded guilty in Maroochydore District Court to armed robbery and deprivation of liberty in October last year when he demanded drugs to feed his addiction.

He also pleaded guilty to stealing a doctor’s prescription pad from a Cooran health centre and using it to forge and utter false prescriptions at pharmacies in Noosa and Maroochydore for oxycontin – a morphine-based drug.

Mr Graham spent 145 days in custody for the robbery and committed the second lot of offences soon after he was released on bail.

Judge Terrence White said the robbery was “unplanned and unsophisticated” but “it would have been a frightening experience for the pharmacist and the employee”.

He sentenced Mr Graham to three years jail with parole in January to account for time already served in custody.

“You will be looking at a two-year incarceration if you muck up (on parole),” he said.

Pharmacy assistant Glenda Izzard, who has worked in the industry for 20-odd years, said she was pleased to hear Mr Graham would be behind bars until January but had tried to move on with her life.

“I’m glad it’s all over to be honest,” she said.

“It was terrifying because he had me out in the back room and wouldn’t let me go. He was threatening to shoot me and told me he had a gun.

“He reeked of alcohol and was dirty and scruffy but I was never going to argue with him. I just hope I don’t run into him again.

“Since that happened, whenever some comes into the store who is a bit scruffy, my heart tends to sink a bit. And I lost a bit of hair, it was just falling out in lumps.

“But I was back at work basically straight away. These things, you just can’t let them affect you too much.”

Defence barrister David Crews said his client, who was diagnosed with bi-polar in March, had a good working history until 2004 when his four daughters were placed in his care. He said Mr Graham fell into a depression, began using drugs and developed a heroin addiction when the children returned to their mother in 2006.